Well fantastic, MuscleCarMan. Now I can look forward to hours of fun exclusively playing games that involve hiding behind things and talking strategy with others. You know, I actually enjoy running around, jumping several meters through the air, and firing away without worrying that a single shot will do me in. Call it "lone wolf crap" if you want, I find it fun. I enjoy feeling like a future cyborg that can withstand fire from the enemy without flinching or diving for cover. Tactical shooters are a subgenre, and to claim that they "play like a shooter should" is a slap in the face to anyone with a different preference than yours. I welcome tactical shooters as alternatives to games like Halo, but I find the thought of all future shooters consisting of hiding behind cover to be horrendously depressing.

I think this really comes down to lighting style. Not the technical lighting effects, but how they've decided to light the levels in general. It's consistent with the Halo look, but since it isn't the stark, high contrast of Gears of War, it is viewed as "inferior" by the casual observer. I think the collective consciousness is at work. If they replaced Halo 3 screenshots with prerendered ones with similar lighting, people would STILL claim it isn't "nextgen," whatever that even means. And to those who would say Resistance looked better... I can only disagree.